NBC Sports Philadelphia fans will soon be able to save money on YouTubeTV
Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers games will be available on YouTube TV's new sports-centric package of channels for subscribers in and around Philadelphia.
Philadelphia sports fans will soon be presented with a first — a chance to actually save money during the streaming wars.
Beginning this week, YouTube TV is rolling out a sports-specific plan featuring channels with major sports rights that will cost $64.99 a month, $18 less than what it currently charges for a subscription.
New subscribers can nab the same deal for $54.99 a month for a year.
The plan will include all the major broadcast networks — ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox — and cable channels that currently hold sports rights, including ESPN’s networks (and full access to ESPN Unlimited beginning in the fall), FS1, TNT, TBS, TruTV (for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament), CBS Sports Network, Golf Channel, and USA Network, the U.S. home of Premier League games.
NBC Sports Philadelphia will also be included in the slimmed-down sports bundle for those who live in the Philadelphia TV market, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed. So will NBC’s other three regional sports networks in their respective areas, including Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Northern California. NBC Sports Philadelphia will also still be available to stream without a cable subscription through Peacock and MLB.TV.
YouTubeTV’s sports bundle will also include league-centric channels like the NFL Network (now owned by ESPN), the Big Ten Network, and NBA TV, which this season basically just airs a whip-around show called The Association and a handful of NBA games.
While the plan gets sports fans the bulk of NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL games, there are a few omissions. There’s no Amazon Prime Video, which features Thursday Night Football, weekly NBA games, and playoff games in both leagues. It also doesn’t include the handful of NFL and MLB games streamed by Netflix, or Apple TV+’s Friday Night Baseball or MLS games.
Another notable omission is MLB Network, which hasn’t been available on YouTube TV since 2023 due to a carriage dispute.
YouTube TV is also rolling out slimmed-down subscription offerings for entertainment fans ($54.99 a month), a sports plus news package ($71.99 a month), and a family-focused plan ($69.99 a month).
Why now? Growth. YouTubeTV is the third-largest cable TV provider in the country and growing, with over 10 million subscribers, trailing just Charter (12.6 million) and Comcast (11.3 million). While Comcast has been shedding video customers, Charter has been able to stem its losses by offering its own skinny bundle, something fans and non-fans alike have been complaining about for years.
NBC Sports Philadelphia will still be available to stream without a cable subscription on Peacock. It’s also available through MLB.TV, though because it’s now run by ESPN you’ll need to jump through a few hoops so you’re not also charged for ESPN Unlimited.
More NFL games coming to YouTube?
YouTube, the free older brother of YouTube TV, hasn’t been quiet about wanting to stream more NFL games in the near future. It could get its wish as soon as next season.
As part of their purchase of NFL Media and the NFL Network, ESPN agreed to give the league back the TV rights to four games. Those will now head to the marketplace, where YouTube is expected be among the bidders. It’s no surprise YouTube CEO Neal Mohan was among the big names sitting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in his Super Bowl box at Levi’s Stadium Sunday.
“We really value our partnership with the NFL,” Christian Oestlien, YouTube’s vice president of subscription product, told Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw in a recent interview. “Everything we’ve done with them so far has been really successful. And so we’re very excited about the idea that we could be doing more with them.”
YouTube’s biggest competitor for those four games will likely Netflix, who is entering the last year of their three-season deal to stream NFL Christmas games. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, was also in Goodell’s booth.
YouTube streamed its first NFL game last season, the Week 1 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers played in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The game drew 17.3 million global viewers, including 16.2 million in the United States, a big number boosting the streamer’s chances of landing more games.
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Super Bowl viewership numbers will be out later Tuesday. If you care about such things and have seen numbers on social media, ignore them. The Eagles’ blowout win last year against the Chiefs averaged over 127 million viewers, peaking with Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show, with over 133 million people tuning in. We’ll see how Bad Bunny and Sunday’s boring Super Bowl can match that.